to take your questions about the campaign and the impact on washington policy. >> "washington journal" continues. host: mark mazzetti is our guest until the end of today's "washington journal," correspondent for "the new york times." what is the role of the cia in afghanistan and pakistan? guest: a couple of things. in afghanistan right now,ç they do a number of things, including collectçó intelligence, analyze intelligence, and also to ground operations against taliban forces, militant networks. in pakistan, something we report a lot about, the drone strikes that the cia has been doing for several years now, and in the last year-and-a-half or two years has increased the intensity. to the extent that there is sometimes one or two a week. these are predator and drone aircraft piloted by ci -- out of cia headquarters in virginia. but it is usually in the pakistani tribal region in the mountains. host: is that a traditional role of the cia? guest:ç they are really a post- 9/11 phenomenon. they had them before september 11. after 9/11, it is something that i have been using quite ex